Magazines, catalogs, newspapers and direct-mail pieces are all well known methods to communicate specific information to readers. The information frequently takes the form of advertisements which are designed to capture the reader's attention and elicit a response for the advertiser. Such advertisements can take the form of an individual printed sheet (e.g., a letter for mailing) or printing on wide webs, which are subsequently folded and cut to form advertising "signatures." Other advertising is accomplished by direct mail, where a printed piece is processed through mail-handling equipment. The key aspect in each instance is that the advertisement capture the reader's attention for the product or service being promoted, and that the image or message conveyed by the advertisement make an impression on the reader which, alone or in aggregation, leads the reader to purchase the goods or services being promoted.
In general, printing is controlled by the "registration" of various ink stations with a known location on the substrate to which the ink is applied. Registration can be "hairline" (0.1 mm or less variation between ink printed in different stations), "normal" (1 to 5 mm variation) or "loose" (5 to 25 mm variation). In forming an advertising signature, the printed substrate is folded to provide a "registration edge," the registration edge is a folded edge which is in a predetermined ("registered") location with respect to the printing, and is used in subsequent processing steps for the printed piece. A printed, folded piece may form a "signature," which is a booklet formed from the web and used to form a larger book.
Direct-mail advertising may take the form of printed material formed from either sheets or from a continuous web. In some instances, the printed material is further inserted into an envelope prior to further processing of the direct-mail piece by mail-handling equipment. Such mail-handling equipment may consist of high-speed movement of the direct-mail pieces by rapidly moving belts. Consequently, the United States Postal Service requires that any label applied to the exterior of a direct-mail piece have an adhesive coating along all sides of the label, so that the adhesive securely anchors the label from being spontaneously removed by the friction belts during processing of the direct-mail piece.
Advertising signatures are commonly used to form magazines and catalogs. An advertising signature is an insert that is placed in the magazine and comprises a plurality of pages (typically rectangular pieces of paper having advertising printed thereon) which are folded over to form a registration edge. Multiple signatures are typically joined together on a binding line along their respective registration edges. Separate signatures are grouped together by precisely aligning them on at least two edges. A group of signatures is bound together (for instance, by glue or staples) and typically trimmed to final form. High quality books are formed by holding very close registration between the printing and all assembly and converting operations.
One method of enhancing an advertisement and increasing reader response is to attach a pressure sensitive label or sheet of paper carrying a repositionable adhesive on the advertisement. The most popular of these repositionable products is a repositionable sheet, such as the Post-it.RTM. brand notes sold by Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company of St. Paul, Minn. Such sheets in familiar form are available in stacks or pads of sheets, one adhered to another. Such repositionable sheets have a first side which is partially coated with a repositionable pressure sensitive adhesive (RPSA) and a second side which is either plain (no printing) for writing a note, or which may have a preprinted message or design thereon. Advertising signatures have been provided with repositionable sheets that contain information such as the name and telephone number of the advertiser or a coupon for a price discount. The sheets are repositionable so that they can be removed from the advertising signature and adhered at another location (for example, a desk or refrigerator) to remind the reader to call the advertiser or to use as a coupon at a later date.
Typical labels are constructed from a backing, such as paper, carrying indicia on one major surface and a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive entirely covering the other major surface. This backing is then attached to a "release liner" which usually is formed from paper and is coated with a thin layer of an adhesive release material, such as cross-linked silicone polymer.
Labels are very efficient to produce in large or small numbers. Wide rolls of backing are coated with a pressure sensitive adhesive and a release liner of similar width is wound along with the backing. In this way, the adhesive is protected, and the backing is not damaged by contact with the adhesive (for instance, by adhesive transferring to the backing or delaminating the backing when subsequently unwound). This laminate assembly (backing and release liner) may be unwound, printed, die cut, split into smaller widths and re-wound into rolls. Because the label is fully covered with adhesive, graphics printed thereon can take any orientation without any regard to registering the graphics to adhesive location.
Common labeling equipment provides for a location to support such a smaller width roll for application, means to advance the web wound on the roll, means to detect each discrete label as it is advanced, means to separate the label from the liner (e.g., a peeler bar), and means for attaching the label to an underlying surface of a workpiece (e.g., a container, direct-mail piece, etc.). Typically, the labeling equipment detects a label by sensing a difference in the reflective properties of the label and its supporting liner material. When such a difference is detected, the labeling equipment controls the registered placement of the label on the workpiece. The liner, which previously supported the label, often is re-wound on a take-up reel and subsequently discarded as waste.
As noted above, repositionable pressure-sensitive sheets in the form of 3M brand Post-it.RTM. notes have been attached to printed pieces. Illustrative examples are included in Pusateri et al. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/095,722 and Miles et al. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/729,780, both commonly owned by the assignee of the instant application, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, St. Paul, Minn., and incorporated herein by reference.
Printed notes have been formed by partially coating a wide web with bands of RPSA in predetermined locations, splitting the web into small rolls, printing on the smaller rolls and further splitting them into yet smaller rolls. The rolls are split in the center of the adhesive bands to provide small rolls approximately 75 mm wide and 1000 meters long. These rolls carry indicia which serve as a "registration eyemark" for each note sheet formed therefrom. As the rolls are slit, each RPSA band is slit in two to eventually form the top adhesive portion of the note sheets formed from that roll. Because the graphics printed on the web are always oriented with respect to the RPSA band, half the small rolls must be re-wound to orient all the graphics in a same direction on every small roll. This step adds costs, delays the attachment and adds another step in completing the finished printed piece. In addition, small amounts of adhesive gradually accumulate on the web slitting knives and along one of the edges of each small roll. This adhesive build-up requires the splitting process to be periodically stopped to clean the web slitting knives, further adding cost and time delays to the process.
The small rolls are subsequently placed on another device adapted to receive such a small roll, unwind that roll, detect the registration eyemarks thereon, separate a note sheet from the small roll, and attach that note sheet to an underlying printed piece such as an advertising signature or direct-mail piece. When adhesive accumulates on the edge of the wound webs of the small rolls, the rolls attract dirt and diminish the appearance of the note sheets separated therefrom. Additionally, the lightly bound adhesive on the edges easily transfers from the edges to other surfaces, such as parts of the equipment used to separate the note sheet from the small roll and attach the note sheet to the workpiece. Ultimately, as the adhesive accumulates, the handling equipment will stop when the small roll catches on an adhesive mass and fails to feed properly, thereby "jamming" the machine.
One other means to provide a printed note sheet on a carrier sheet is disclosed in Crandall et al. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/636,615, commonly owned by the assignee of the instant application, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, St. Paul, Minn., and incorporated herein by reference. This disclosure shows a series of pressure-sensitive note sheets attached to a liner. Each pressure-sensitive note sheet includes a band of adhesive extending along two parallel terminal edges of the sheet. Adjacent bands are provided by splitting the web through a wider band of adhesive which had previously been applied thereto.